4-Day Singapore Itinerary

Our long-awaited trip to Singapore finally happened, and although it was only 4 days, we (or rather I, the designated planner) packed out our itinerary. As I write this on the return flight, my feet are currently broken from about 9 miles of walking everyday, am jet lagging and surprised I made it through the holiday with about 5 hours sleep every night, and am trying not to itch the monster mosquito bite on my arm which spans the whole width of it. I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed and fix my jet lag, but I'm nostalgic for that hot, sticky humidity and living-out-of-a-suitcase life already.

Singapore is so beautiful; trees everywhere, and iconic architecture. The story of its rise to an economic powerhouse is fascinating and I have been wanting to go since forever. Known for its strict rules, it’s the land of no chewing gum and where durian is illegal on the MRT (lol), but strict laws and harsh punishments only mean that people are less likely to commit the crime right? UK could learn a thing or two.

Catching the sunset outside of the ArtScience Museum

There’s basically always a permanent heatwave here and you will definitely regret it if you don't have a portable fan or UV umbrella. Navigating around is easy since English is an official language, and there are plenty of different ethnicities residing harmoniously in Singapore, along with the different cultural areas like Chinatown, Little India and the Arab quarter.

DAY 1

We arrived at 6am after a disgustingly long 13 hour flight, picked up a Starhub SIM card from Changi Airport - $12SGD (about £7) for 100GB (I know, wut) and then booked a Grab to our hotel. Grab is their version of Uber - it’s cheaper than other taxis and also safer than Uber too as all the drivers need to be tested and qualified. Let's not forget that Singapore is one of the safest places to live in the world.

We stayed at Mercure Singapore Bugis for the first few days. Location is decent and close to malls like Bugis+ and markets like Bugis Street. And after check-in, we went to the MRT station and picked up the 3-day Singapore Tourist Pass (unlimited rides on the MRT and bus) and headed to Chinatown. First stop: Hawker Chan, the world’s cheapest Michelin Star meal. Verdict: overrated, inefficient customer service, very long wait even though we were one of the first in line at opening. But shouldn't complain too much as the soy sauce chicken and rice is only around £2.10. After, we went for a swift and sweaty stroll through Kampong Glam where the Sultan Mosque, Arab Street and Haji Lane are before retreating for an afternoon nap. Haji Lane is on everyone's 'must visit' list in Singapore, but it was just SO HOT in the day that we only breezed past it.

We had tickets for the Future World exhibition at the ArtScience Museum in the evening. Normally, we don’t do museums, but made an exception here as everything looked f u n. There are pretty digital art displays as well as a section where you can do crayon drawings that come to life on big cinematic screens. One of most instagrammable sections here is definitely the room with 170,000 LED lights.

Future World

For dinner, we had the famous Song Fa Bat Kut Teh, famed for its pork ribs soup - very popular with tourists, but I also found the food quite average. We went for some drinks afterwards in Clarke Quay - one of the most popular areas for night life which is by the river and has lots of bars - and had Pina Coladas at the Highlander which also had good live music.

View of the city from outside Marina Bay

DAY 2

An early start is key in Singapore because there are less tourists at the attractions and ideally you want to do any outdoor activities in the morning, then retreat indoors for the afternoon when it gets crazy hot and then resume outdoors again when the sun starts to set. But warning: it really doesn't even get much cooler at night.

We had breakfast in the hotel and then our itinerary started with Gardens by the Bay which I had been looking forward to THE MOST. I was genuinely bursting with excitement prior to this for about 4 months knowing I could finally see this all in person, and it did not disappoint. We bought tickets for the Cloud Forest and took a shuttle there from the entrance. Cloud Forest is a huge dome, much like a greenhouse, home to lots of plants, trees, botanics and also the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. Everything was very picturesque, as were the views outside of the surrounding area and Marina Bay Sands. We finished off with a stroll around the Supertree Grove - perhaps it was because it was a weekday and still early-ish, but it was virtually empty. The Supertrees are huge structures and completely mesmerising.

Cloud Forest

For lunch, we went back to Chinatown and visited the Maxwell Food Centre, one of the most popular hawker centres in Singapore. There are a few quite famous stalls here - Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice had the longest queue snaking out of the place, so we had Ah Tai which is only a few stalls down. Tian Tian is made famous by Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay, but reviews say Ah Tai tastes just as good, if not better. (And after eating both, I think I prefer Ah Tai) I could actually eat Hainanese Chicken everyday, and this was probably the best I’ve had. All for $3, which is around £1.70. Like the abundance and cost of Hainanese Chicken alone just makes me want to move to Singapore.

We retreated for another afternoon nap and then headed to Orchard Road, the street for shopping, albeit we didn't actually do any shopping. I had booked a haircut at LeeKaJa Beauty Salon in the Mandarin Gallery which is a 'hip' Korean salon complete with its own bar so you can sip on free juices whilst you get your hair cut.

We went for a quick bite at Ya Kun Kaya Toast - Singaporeans' (and my new favourite) breakfast dish which is some light toast spread with Kaya jam, that tastes sickly sweet on its own, but once dipped in runny, soft-boiled eggs, tastes . We also explored outside around the Marina Bay Sands Shoppes for nighttime photography. They have a huge Louis Vuitton store that looks like a giant sparkling diamond.

Chill crab lookin' juicy

We’d booked Jumbo Seafood at Riverwalk for the famous Singapore Chilli Crab - again, another place very popular with tourists. We shared a 1kg chilli crab and had the mini deep fried buns with it. The sauce with the crab is a blend of tomato, egg, garlic and chilli. Very good, but also I was NOT prepared for how spicy it would be because like every single review online will tell you the chilli crab here is not spicy. Well... they lyin'.

We went back to Clarke Quay for dessert - green tea and lychee Hokkaido ice cream. And then we walked to the Merlion Park for nighttime views of the cityscape - namely Marina Bay Sands and the lit-up Helix Bridge looking very tiny next to it.

DAY 3

Another hot, sweltering day and the regret of not waking up earlier. We visited a residential area around Joo Chiat Road where there are the prettiest, pastel-coloured Peranakan Houses, and then had breakfast nearby at Fei Fei Wonton Noodles.
Then we decided to opt for the Chinese and Japanese Gardens over the Botanical Gardens. The Chinese Gardens have lots of greenery, lakes, pagodas and Japanese style buildings and the entire grounds were practically empty, so quite ideal for taking good photos.

Jewel and pastel-coloured Peranakan houses

After another afternoon nap, we had a quick bento dinner in the Bugis+ mall near our hotel and went back to Gardens by the Bay for the light show in the evening. It was a Saturday and PACKED. Get there early! We bought tickets to the Skywalk which are only $8pp, but because it was so packed, we had to be allocated a time to join the queue to go up to the Skywalk. Our queuing slot was 7.20pm and we managed to get up there just in time for the light show which starts at 7.45 and lasts for 15 minutes. I don’t think it matters if you’re on the ground or up on the walk for the show as the Supertree Grove pretty much looks good from any angle and any distance. Keep in mind that sometimes if they’re too busy, they’ll close the Skywalk so get there earlier for tickets!

At the Gardens by the Bay light show

The Supertree Grove at night was a dream - it felt like real-life Avatar. Gardens by the Bay was definitely my favourite place from the whole trip.

Right after, we thought we’d try our luck to get up to Marina Bay Sands for a high rise city view. The Sands are very exclusive - security is everywhere and you cannot get into the infinity pool if you’re not a hotel guest and you need to purchase tickets to get up to the observation deck or bar. At first we were denied entry to the bar, but then somehow managed to sneak our way in. All we wanted were skyline photos, and Gardens by the Bay looked cute and tiny from up there.

#viewfromabove

DAY 4

Sadly, our last full day. We woke up and had a quick Ya Kun Kaya Toast down the road before heading to the Merlion Park for daytime views. Then we checked in to a new hotel - decided to treat ourselves for the last night and moved to Sofitel Singapore City Centre which is located conveniently right next to Chinatown. The hotel is amazing, and everything you'd expect of a luxury hotel, including a robot butler in the lounge whizzing around.

Arab Street and the Sri Miriamman Temple

There were still a few things on our list to do, so we quickly stopped by the intricate Sri Miriamman Temple and the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, and then we got a Grab to Sentosa Island. We wanted to make one last stop to check out Siloso Beach, a manmade beach with a pretty cool suspension bridge. We took a mini trek around the island before ending with some lychee cocktails at FOC Sentosa which is a Mediterranean restaurant and beach club.

We got back to the hotel pretty late and wanted to go for a swim in the outdoor pool before it closed, so we decided to order some Hainanese chicken takeaway to the hotel whilst we went for a dip. And then that concluded our last night, and we packed and slept in our little luxurious king-sized bed before waking up at like 5am to catch our flight. Until next time, Singapore.